Continuing this photographic record of figures hefting objects, let’s look at some more from Fear Itself.
Nul [Fear Itself 032] can decently balance an object token on his head and arm as shown. HAMMERTIME HULK SMASH.
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Future editions of Token Totin’ Thursday will highlight more Fear Itself until it’s all shown.
Have F.U.N. Heroclixin!’
So I had this idea for an eventual Top Ten list: The Best Animals for Vixen (Streets of Gotham 028) to run with. Remember, she topped my Favorites of 2012, especially when I thought her “pick a power” trait might be way more awesome than it really is.
It didn’t stop me from trying her out for pretty much the first time since said ruling some time ago on an Animal team in a Modern Age 400-point scenario in which a character on your force can use a game effect similar to White Tiger (Incredible Hulk 020): “Once per game, when White Tiger would be KO’d, you may instead heal her to click #3. If you do, at the beginning of each of your turns while she is on the map, deal 1 unavoidable damage to another friendly character.”
The team really did look like a lineup of partners for Vixen.
Loki (Fear Itself 101) 100
Alyosha Kraven 70
Beast Boy (Pterodactyl) (Batman 019) 60
Ka-Zar (Incredible Hulk) 55
Catwoman (DC 10th Anniversary) 35
and, of course, the 74-point Vixen herself, along with the Justice League: Generation Lost ATA.
FIRST, I faced judge Bill and his Leash (Teen Titans 031), Raizo Kodo (Fear Itself) and four Mole Men (Galactic Guardians) on my new Blitzkrieg DC map. The team should have decimated me on Turn 1 but he couldn’t roll a 5 in three tries. That was the only bullet I needed to dodge to dominate and win this time-shortened game, though I needed one more piece of dice luck to avoid a last-second LOSS.
Best Vixen move: Having been hit to Poison, she Tantu Totemed Loki’s Outwit to get Raizo off his Impervious click.
SECOND round was on the other side of the Blitz pack map against Stephen’s Dracula (Amazing Spider-Man), Asgardian Troll (Fear Itself) and Werewolf times SIX. This one I did narrowly lose in the final rounds when Kraven was taken out by an unlikely hit from a Werewolf that I missed repeated easy shots on earlier.
Best Vixen move: Taking Catwoman’s Willpower to make a shot on an unsuspecting Werewolf. Unfortunately, I crit missed and crippled her ability for the rest of the game.
THIRD round, on the same map, was versus Lenny’s Midnight Sons: Ghost Rider (Amazing Spider-Man), Blade (Amazing Spider-Man 004), Frank Drake and Daimon Hellstrom. Although Loki was again hit early to his far less effective late clicks, I was able to recover and wipe out the enemy.
Best Vixen Move: Possessing the ATA and superior range, she copied Loki’s Outwit to take Frank Drake out of the equation.
By piece (and how each benefited Vixen):
Alyosha Kraven, of course, is THE essential Animal-themed team player; you don’t run this keyword without him. But he’s also great for Vixen aside from his metagame factor, chiefly for his opening Combat Reflexes. More than once, I’d use it to gain a respectable 18 DV from melee on top of her natural ESD. Ideally, his later-dial Outwit will never be usable because he never gets hit, but it’s there if you need it.
Loki (Fear Itself) at 100 points is the new other shortlisted partner for Vixen on Animal teams. That Outwit combines well with her long 8 range to real effect. If she needs some armor, there’s Toughness available, too (though the 30-point level is better for that). Down the line, Loki’s loaded with the other support powers, Perplex and Probability Control, and both certainly come in handy for Mari.
Aside from backing her up, Loki is fine as a Hypersonic Speedy fighter in between all the Outwit and whatnot. He’s also a great taxi, especially at the lower cost.
Beast Boy (Batman 019) in Pterodactyl form gave the team a Charging, weakness-Exploiting attack taxi. It also gives Vixen one more way to deal with armor when she Charges in herself by copying Exploit Weakness.
I morphed BB into the prime Gordian form (Teen Titans 005b) and back for the stat boost after. It slows down the team some, as the alien form can’t carry anyone but fellow Titans. But it always paid off in the end. EDIT: However, this Morph has been ruled illegal because it violates the one-prime-per-force rule despite it being a sideline figure.
Catwoman (DC 10th Anniversary 008) is probably the best Modern Age partner for Vixen in the game, even more than Alyosha. For just 35 points, she helps the African superheroine on defense (via Stealth), offense (Exploit Weakness) and action advantage (Willpower), all on her opening click. Of course, she’s fine as a piece in her own right with the above powers as well.
Ka-Zar (Incredible Hulk) was the one relative dud. As a Duo fig, he was untaxiable so it was very difficult to get him into proper position. He also lacks the high damage that makes Duo Attack a worthy ability and is too cheap for his Leadership to be effective most of the time. He’s helpful enough for a Vixen partner, offering Combat Reflexes or Stealth to aid her defense. And once in a while, she may want to use his Leadership if there’s no better option, I guess.
Finally, there’s the Justice League: Generation Lost ATA, three points that just oughta be put on Vixen from now on. Her AV is low enough that she can use the boost when shooting at her target through hindering.
Heroclixin’ will revisit this subject periodically as new — or old — Animals come up in the game to our attention. Because a Vixen should never be alone.
Continuing this photographic record of figures hefting objects, this time starting a multi-week look at figs from the new Wolverine and the X-Men full set. Next up? White King (Wolverine and The X-Men):
His coattails serve to hold the token. Stylish AND practical.
Legion (Wolverine +The X-Men) uses his blue psycho energy to hold his token.
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Thursdays for a while will feature pix from Fear Itself, with Tuesdays continuing the coverage of Wolverine +The X-Men.
Continuing the series recounting how I choose art for DC cards to make ’em prettier.
Here’s the next BFC in the set:
Though he’s my favorite character, Aquaman on a wrecked throne well-illustrates the card. This was from a cover 2/3 through his 2002 series run, just after Atlantis had gotten smooshed by the insane Spectre during Infinite Crisis.
Next week, another feat from Crisis.
Continuing this photographic record of figures hefting objects, let’s look at the Jugga’naut, #####:
U know who the #### I am?
Kuurth [Fear Itself 026] can juuuuust barely balance an object token on his head and arm as shown. There might be another hold available, but I didn’t find one in the minute or so I had with someone else’s copy of the piece.
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Future editions of Token Totin’ Thursday will highlight more Fear Itself until it’s all shown.
Have F.U.N. Heroclixin!’
This is an occasional article I include in Heroclixin’ whenever a new set drops. (Yes, it’s a bit late.)
See, while some players collect X-Men or Justice Society characters, I have…odder themes that I like to complete. It’s why, even in a set like Wolverine & The X-Men full of characters that I’m fairly burnt-out on, I still find pieces that I look to acquire to complete or complement my weird themes.
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For example, there’s my ARCHER theme of characters wielding bows and arrows. It’s the main reason Mirage (Wolverine & The X-Men ) makes the list. Well, that and the fact that I’m glad they made her with both her classic and Valkyrie powers, putting her in line for another semi-goofball theme that I may have highlighted a long time ago (or not so long ago): Ride of the Valkyries.
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Early on in my involvement in HeroClix, I endeavored to build a top-flight, competitive team of all-black characters. I still collect them all, so I’ve sought out my #4 Most Wanted Piece, M (054) and Bishop even though, technically, these dark-skinned characters are Algerian and Aboriginal, respectively. And we can’t forget Storm, who comes with the X-Men Gold team base.
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The Trenchcoat brigade gains new member(s) with a new Multiple Man in his current long-coated look. He also happens to be one of my favorite characters, so I have focused on obtaining several of these figures. Speaking of favorites, Longshot shares X-Factor membership with him (and the aforementioned inestimable M) to finally mostly complete a keyword-friendly version of my favorite X-team. I won’t break my neck to get the Team-Based new version of Wolfsbane, as there’s a great Golden Age version of her out there. Similarly, Strong Guy isn’t exactly a must-have for the same reason.
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Big Bertha adds some more female mystique to my fun FAT FOLKS theme. Shadow King is also portly enough to contribute to tipping the scale toward my end of the map.
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I won’t mind adding Black King and Black Queen to my silly “characters with ‘black’ in their names” theme.
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And, sadly, I like Atlantis pieces, so chase piece Phoenix Five Namor is on my wish list. Sigh.
Continuing this photographic record of figures hefting objects, this time starting a multi-week look at figs from the new Wolverine and the X-Men full set. Next up? Cyber (Wolverine and The X-Men 208) .
Under his left toe is an OK hold; not great, but adequate.
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Thursdays for a while will feature pix from Fear Itself, with Tuesdays continuing the coverage of Wolverine +The X-Men.
Continuing the series recounting how I added art to DC cards to make ’em prettier. I’m going to switch things up a little by alternating between BFCs and Feats in each set. To wit, this time Heroclixin’ looks at the first Feat of Crisis:
Well, technically it’s the 2nd feat, but F001 is an Alternate Team Ability that was banned when WizKids upgraded to the current Additional Team Ability rules.
Anyhow, the challenge was finding a DC character jumping off a building and NOT FLYING. This crop of two panel of Young Heroes In Love member Thunderhead doing so was the best I could recall and find. Art’s by Dev Madan, who apparently went on to great success as a creator of Sly Cooper.
Next week, another BFC from Crisis.
It’s tough reviewing these. Heroclixin’ is all about F.U.N. But BFCs were all too frequently the OPPOSITE of fun. Especially these:
Earthquake: Bad for soft non-fliers. At least it only occurred once per game, so it’s the least unfun of the lot.
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Isolation: Defend, Blades/Claws/Fangs and a host of team abilities that shared AV or DV were all rendered null and void by this card. Worse, teams that need these effects tend to be utterly ineffective without them. Unfun.
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Poor Teamwork: Whoops; your taxis and TKers are mostly dead weight now. Terrible unfun for any team that needed the mobility.
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Exhaustion: As if pushing weren’t bad enough, this one doubled the damage for doing so. Worse, it swung the action advantage even FURTHER in Willpower’s direction.
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Disbanded: Nothing’s worse than seeing all those points paid for those team abilities on your team go up in smoke upon this card’s reveal. The one BFC even Galactus fears.
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Bright Lights: Woe to any team that actually used Stealth as a defense. It’s worthless with this BFC on the field. Used almost exclusively to punish players who abused the black Speed power, it also gave a really strong advantage to range-heavy teams.
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Deep Shadows: This card is mean because Stealth can be mean. But Stealth has a built-in dependence upon hindering terrain that usually limits the degree of its meanness. This card gives all the advantages of being hidden and none of the drawbacks. UnF.U.N. Why the hell was it reprinted over and over and not its more F.U.N. cousin, Darkness?
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Malice: The meanest card out there, bar none. It forces teams to take damage any round it doesn’t attack. Supposedly an anti-turtle tactic, it actually rewards turtle teams more than any other so long as it has a healer available to absorb the self-damage. Meanwhile, it can set up the killbox for teams that CAN’T bide their time, anymore, because of this #$^$% card.
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Usually, Heroclixin’ devotes the first full week of the month to a Top Ten countdown of something. But battling the happy fatigue that follows the great Labor Day weekend nerd prom called DragonCon makes this one short and sweet as yours truly takes a short, sweet break from Heroclixin’. Readers new and old can use the time to catch up on older articles.
Next week, look for the usual rotation to start again:
Monday: Card Art, where I explain my choice of art for DC feats, BFCs and ATAs after WizKids stopped licensing art from DC comics;
Wednesday: F.U.N. Fights, a semi-regular feature of battle reports
Friday: an occasional F.U.N. Friday article starring a team or a figure I’d like to run, or other commentary on the game;
and Token Totin’ Tuesday/Thursday, the photographic record of how characters with Super Strength can visibly and practically hold the game’s object tokens.
Usually, Heroclixin’ devotes the first full week of the month to a Top Ten countdown of something. But we’re battling the happy fatigue that follows the great Labor Day weekend nerd prom called DragonCon. So this one’s going to be short and sweet as yours truly takes a short, sweet break from Heroclixin’. Readers new and old can use the time to catch up on older articles.
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It’s tough reviewing these. Heroclixin’ is all about F.U.N. But BFCs were all too frequently the OPPOSITE of fun.
When themed teams became a thing, BFCs lost much of their steam as the one you needed to use could all too frequently be canceled away. And so now Heroclixin’ simply shares, in mostly no particular order, its take on the best/worst of the purple-headed cardboard:
F.U.N. ones
Atlantis Rising: Characters with the Dolphin Speed symbols usually work at a disadvantage. This BFC evens matters up for them a bit. And because Swim figures are usually F.U.N. figures, Atlantis Rising’s ability to flood Level 1 of any map isn’t terribly broken.
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White Noise: Outwit and Perplex could be annoying sometimes. But it’s also a pain not to have them at all. The partial solution was this BFC that made the free action powers riskier to use. It’s a help to a team that doesn’t have those powers yet won’t completely hose those with them.
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Bizarro World: There are several BFCs that mess with the world of crit hits and misses (Extraordinary Day, Madness, Critical Strike, Great Arena) but none that equal F.U.N. for everyone like this one, which takes the sting out of getting hit with either the 12 or the 2 roll.
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Infiltration: This neat BFC allows select characters — Stealthers, Teleporters, Swimmers — to start a little closer to the action in their terrain of choice. It’s a risk/reward move, as it puts some closer to being alpha-struck. But it doesn’t screw any player over for building a team, so it’s nice and F.U.N.
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Darkness: Long range can be really hard for some teams to deal with. This little BFC just cuts it all to a manageable 6. It does hurt snipers a bit, but ranged combat has enough advantages already. This card alone won’t beat ’em. A quintessentially F.U.N card that levels the field.
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Ordinary Day: It just cancels the other guy’s BFC; the ultimate defense against deleterious BFC effects. Or it used to be, before themed teams, which now just as often kill off THIS card.
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Resistance: A very F.U.N. card that rewarded old-school “theme” play of characters with the same team symbol, it was balanced by requiring adjacency to gain immunity to Outwit.
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Assembled: Another “theme” card that encouraged old-school “theme” play. (Although I tend to forget to use its effect — +1 AV when a same-team-symbol friend is adjacent — whenever I use the card.)
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Pacification: Back in the old days, many clix couldn’t take a hit, so nerfing high damage was a must to survive an alpha strike. (The more things change, right?) This BFC helped a little without taking ALL the teeth out of natural heavy hitters and B/C/F figs the way Power Dampening Field did.
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Debris: Heroclixin’ has noted the problem associated with a lack of objects in the game. This F.U.N. BFC reverses that by adding six EXTRA objects to a game. A boon to the Super Strong and the Stealthy, to be sure, but not one that breaks the game into an unwinnable slog for teams lacking same.
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TOMORROW: The Top Ten most unF.U.N. BFCs ever made.